The Spy

Chapter 217 Invisible Flattery
Xu Zhanjie specifically told William that if it was high-level Japanese officials or diplomatic intelligence, he would accept them all.

It is equivalent to giving the seller a list and asking him to provide the goods according to the list.

"So fast?"

William asked in surprise after opening the envelope and taking a look. Osaka smiled slightly and held up a finger: "One hundred taels of gold for this information."

He was confident in his intelligence that William's buyers must be Chinese, and apart from them, not many people were interested in these things.

It doesn’t matter if you are Chinese, as long as you pay.

What he wants is money, and he will sell it to whoever is willing to pay.

I have to say, his style of doing things is very similar to his name, very Osaka.

"Okay, I'll go verify it first."

The first time is strange, the second time is familiar. Osaka was already a familiar face to him. William didn't waste time talking to him and quickly sent the information to the Military Intelligence Department. He was just the middleman and would not actually verify the authenticity of the information.

It costs money to verify intelligence, so this is a good way to save money.

The Military Intelligence Department quickly received Yan Ming's investigation. Although the long-distance telephone service had only been in operation for a short time, there were many calls from Shanghai to Nanjing.

Shanghai is China's largest commercial center, and Nanjing is the political center. The two places have always been closely connected.

"Chief, there are a lot of calls. Excluding government departments and normal business contacts, I checked the remaining calls, but there are still too many."

After removing some of them, there are still more than two hundred calls left.

The telephone company does not record all calls, so you can only inquire through the telephone switchboard. However, they transfer too many calls every day, and they will not remember calls that are not particularly interesting.

"It doesn't matter. Investigations are complicated. Among these calls, first filter out the ones that come in regularly every month and those that are only contacted once or twice."

The telephone company has records and can investigate these.

"Yes, I'll check it right away."

Yan Ming replied that it would not take much time to screen the calls, and he had already brought the telephone bureau's phone records to the Military Intelligence Department in advance.

Together with his men, Yan Ming completed the screening half an hour later.

"Chief, there are thirteen calls left, three of which are at fixed times every month, nine of which are contacted once or twice, and one of which is irregular."

"Abnormal?" Xu Qingyun asked immediately.

"Yes, I called twice at irregular times, and each time I answered, I hung up."

Yan Ming nodded. The call was connected, so they had a record. However, the call would be hung up every time after being connected, which attracted Yan Ming's attention.

The telephone company records the call time, and both times the call was connected and then hung up.

"The two calls came from different numbers, most likely from a pay phone."

Yan Ming added that long-distance calls are not cheap and require someone to transfer the call. Unlike in later generations, there are situations where people dial the wrong number. The call was transferred but then hung up directly. This anomaly was immediately caught by Yan Ming.

"Investigate all thirteen calls and find out the identity of the person who answered the phone first."

Xu Qingyun instructed that thirteen calls were not a lot and four groups of people were enough, so he asked Yan Ming and the others to check first. As for the call that Yan Ming was concerned about, Xu Qingyun put it in there as well.

"Okay, I'll check right away."

Yan Ming left, and Xu Qingyun looked at the phone records he had found. There were the names of the owners of the phone numbers in them. Yan Ming was now verifying the identities of these people.

The owner of the phone that Yan Ming was paying special attention to was named Niu. Why did someone hang up after one ring when calling him?

Most likely, the other party is not calling to find someone or to talk to him, but just to see if anyone answers the call.

The fact that the call can be connected proves that there is someone there.

But why did he do that?

Long-distance calls cost more than one dollar per minute. How can you spend more than one dollar just to know that the other party can answer the call?
This is not the style of Japanese spies.

At least Xu Qingyun had fought so many battles with Japanese spies, but had never encountered such a person.

If it’s not a Japanese spy, then who could it be?

He's not a warlord, but it could be one of his comrades. But why did he have to call to confirm that there was someone there without saying a word?
Or is this phone call sending out some signal?
Yan Ming expressed his suspicions, and Xu Qingyun had to investigate, so he asked Yan Ming to investigate the identities of all people, not just one.

"Chief, we have discovered something."

The next day, Yan Ming came running over excitedly. The section chief's method was really good. He had never thought of checking the phone records before.

Or rather, he didn't think about it at all.

"There was a call that was made only once. It was a public phone. The call was from someone next to him. This person came to Nanjing at the same time as the previous two observers. He was also from another place and lived alone. I sent someone to check and found that he had a radio and books at home."

This person's situation is exactly the same as the previous two observers.

As for why there was only one phone call, it is easy to understand. They were newly sent observers and Shanghai had not contacted them before.

"Soon after he answered the phone, another signal came from that channel. We compared it with the existing dictionary and found no code book. I led someone to secretly identify him and confirmed that he was an agent of the Shanghai Special High Section Intelligence Group."

Yan Ming kept grinning after he finished speaking. He was very happy that he had found a Japanese spy directly.

Iijima arranged the observers but did not allow them to have horizontal communication with each other. Several observers did not know the identities of their companions, nor did they know how many of them there were in Nanjing.

But when Iijima was selecting people, he used all the veterans from the intelligence team.

As long as you see someone, you can recognize his identity.

"What about the rest?"

Xu Qingyun asked, Yan Ming was slightly startled, and immediately shook his head: "Jiming is investigating the others, I will come back to report to you first."

"Okay, now that the identity has been confirmed, arrest him immediately."

Xu Qingyun nodded, and Yan Ming asked Zheng Jiming to investigate him to find out the reason. Although Zheng Jiming was promoted to team leader, he had never led a case before. Many cases were handled by Xu Qingyun, and then the credit was shared with him.

Now that Zheng Jiming is the team leader, he must have experience in leading cases.

This time Yan Ming specifically gave him the task of investigation.

Zheng Jiming did not disappoint them, as he was the one who found out the Japanese spy observer.

"Yes, I'll make arrangements right away."

There was no need for Xu Qingyun to show up in person to capture a Japanese observer. Shortly after Yan Ming left, Xu Qingyun came to the office of Team 1, Group 4.

"Section Chief."

There were only two people inside, and the others went out to carry out the arrest mission. The original captain of Team One was Yan Ming, and the team members made the greatest contribution.

For such an operation, there was no need to mobilize all troops, so the two men stayed behind to organize the information. They had made many contributions before and had been promoted last time. Moreover, they were both promoted to warrant officers and could not be promoted in the short term.

In that case, why not give the opportunity to others?

"Sit down."

Xu Qingyun waved his hand, sat down next to them casually, and picked up the documents on the table.

"These are the calls we investigated, but we haven't had time to compile and report to you yet."

A team member hurriedly said that the people in Group 4 admired Xu Qingyun the most. In the entire Military Intelligence Department, when it comes to handling cases, their section chief is definitely the best.

The undisputed kind.

Not to mention the Military Intelligence Department, even including other intelligence departments, no one can compare to their section chief.

"It's okay, don't worry."

Xu Qingyun flipped through the pages casually, encouraged them with a few words, and then left.

After that I went to the second and third teams.

He is not the team leader now, but he is the deputy section chief. He visited not only Group 4, but also several other groups.

Yan Ming and his men went out to arrest people, so Xu Qingyun was temporarily free and just went out for a patrol.

Yan Ming and the others haven't come back yet. Yan Ming has always been the most steady when it comes to catching people. He won't act rashly unless he is absolutely sure. He will wait for the right opportunity to capture the target alive.

Xu Qingyun was recalling the information he had just seen in Team 1.

Even though he just flipped through it a few times, he had already memorized the key information.

Team One was very efficient and they found out a lot of things.

Niu Yuanxiang, male, 35 years old, has just been in Nanjing for two months. He used to be in the medicinal materials business in Shanghai. He wants to open a medicine store in Nanjing and is looking for a house. According to their investigation, a place has been decided.

The pharmacy is not open yet.

These are the only materials available, but they also include his pharmacy and address. It is not easy for a team to find out in such detail with such a short time and so many people to investigate.

Xu Qingyun didn't move. It was not convenient for him to go out now.

Yan Ming and his men may capture people back at any time.

"Chief, the man has been caught and Zheng Jiming is beating him."

Not long after, Yan Ming came to the office. They had successfully caught the man and brought back the radio and all the books in the target's home.

Yan Ming was talking about beating, not interrogation.

Now, whenever a Japanese spy was captured, he would be beaten for half an hour first, unless he needed to be questioned urgently or sent directly to the electric chair.

"This is the dictionary he had at home. There are two of them. One of them must be his code book."

The Japanese observers used a dictionary as a code book, which was relatively simple and very easy to decipher.

"Translate immediately."

Xu Qingyun nodded, Yan Ming took out the numbers he had heard from the recorder before, opened both dictionaries, and then translated them word by word.

Sure enough, one of the dictionaries was his code book.

Today's dictionaries are different from those of later generations. Not only are they not as thick, but they also do not contain as many words. Some words require homophones to understand their meaning.

"Chief, the Japanese spy asked him to lie dormant for the time being and wait for notification."

"Also dormant?"

Xu Qingyun frowned. It seemed that his guess was correct. The Japanese had indeed discovered something and ordered everyone to lie in wait.

Since it was everyone, they didn’t know who the extra person who was arrested was.

At the same time, they did not pay attention to the specific number of traitors.

Xu Qingyun's guess was correct. Firefox did not report the specific number of traitors, but only gave an approximate number. The main reason was that he did not get the information.

The Military Intelligence Department will only report its achievements but will not submit a closure report.

Moreover, all the reports were submitted personally by the director, and the reporting materials were provided by Xu Zhanjie.

Xu Qingyun didn't know that during this period many people had approached Chu Zuo and Xu Zhanjie to smooth over relationships.

I didn't look for him, mainly because we had no relationship. Besides, since I had looked for his boss, there was no need to follow his path.

Some departments feel ashamed and hope that the Military Intelligence Department can help keep it confidential.

For the sake of the gold bars and favors, Chu Zuo and Xu Zhanjie both agreed to their request.

In the end, they did not report all the captured traitors truthfully, but said vaguely that some traitors were not convenient to reveal their identities.

The people in the Military Merit Department are all smart.

It was inconvenient, that was because someone was behind it and didn't want their embarrassing story to spread all over the city. There were so many Japanese spies and named traitors, enough for those people in the Military Intelligence Department to be promoted, so they didn't ask any more questions.

As a result, Firefox did not get the accurate number.

Although Xu Qingyun didn't know the ins and outs of it, he guessed the truth.

The Japanese spies got some of their intelligence, and it wasn't from within them, so it could only be the National Defense Agency.

In other words, they have an insider in the Military Merit Department of the National Defense Department.

The Military Merit Department is not an ordinary department. Although it is a department, they are affiliated with the Personnel Planning Bureau and have great power. The merits and promotions of everyone in the military must go through them.

There are traitors there, which is a serious matter.

"Just review this observer. I'm going to the section chief's office."

Xu Qingyun stood up and told Yan Ming to deal with the people he had captured themselves, and that the matter of the Military Merit Department needed to be reported as soon as possible.

"Teacher, that's what happened."

Xu Qingyun finished his report quickly, but Xu Zhanjie frowned. There was a traitor in the Military Merit Department, so it must be a serious matter.

"Are you just guessing now?"

After a while, Xu Zhanjie asked directly that this was his student and there was nothing wrong with asking.

"Yes, teacher, but we can investigate secretly first and report it when we have any clues."

Xu Qingyun understood what he was worried about. The Military Merit Department was not an ordinary department, let alone the Transportation Bureau and Sub-Department 1 that they had investigated before.

Even though the Transportation Bureau and Yayi Technology are powerful, they have little impact on them.

The Military Merit Department is different. If you offend them, they will definitely be embarrassed in the future without the special approval of the Chairman.

Even with special approval, it probably won't go smoothly, and they will find ways to trip them up.

"Okay, let's do it."

Xu Zhanjie agreed. This was the safest way. He would not report it first, but report it after he got clues and targets.

If they really find this traitor, the initiative will be in their hands.

It can even be treated as a favor and dealt with in secret.

It is certainly impossible to release the people, but they will be dealt with in secret and no one else will know about it. The Military Merit Department will remember this favor.

If we report this at this time, the Military Merit Department will definitely not cooperate.

This is not speculation, but experience gained from handling many cases.

No department wants to have traitors within its ranks. If there is a real problem, what they want most is to solve it themselves.

Not only them, but the Party Affairs Investigation Office has also encountered this situation many times.

Sometimes when investigating the Red Party, people would suddenly create accidents and kill people, so as not to give them a chance to catch the Red Party.

If they are caught, they will be their black spot.

It’s different if there are results. They don’t want to embarrass themselves, or don’t want their superiors to know about internal affairs, so they won’t be so forceful.

At that time, we can promise them that the matter will not be reported, and even let them supervise the execution, so that they will owe a favor to the Military Intelligence Department.

They won’t be able to continue to hold back the promotions of some small figures in the future.

"Teacher, I'm going back first."

Xu Qingyun left the office. It was a good thing that there was a traitor in the Military Merit Department. It happened to be a clue found by Yan Ming. The case continued to be handed over to Yan Ming.

With his attention tied up, Yan Ming had no time to pay attention to Niu Yuanxiang.

"Chief, it's an observer. It looks like the Japanese have sent three observers in total."

Not long after, Yan Ming came to Xu Qingyun's office and said with a smile that three of the new observers sent by Japan had been captured by them.

Two of them were caught by Group 2, and they caught one.

"uncertain."

Xu Qingyun shook his head. Only the Japanese themselves knew how many observers they had sent.

"I checked all the calls, and this is the only one that matches the Japanese spy observer's situation."

Yan Ming explained, and Xu Qingyun smiled and shook his head: "These are the new people they sent. They will evacuate after completing their mission. Can you guarantee that no one has completed a mission before and returned to Shanghai?"

"Secondly, these are just the observers they contacted by phone. Last time we only found four, but there are obviously more than four groups in Nanjing. It is possible that they have other ways of observing that we have not yet discovered."

Yan Ming's eyes lit up, and then he lowered his head: "Chief, you have considered everything. No wonder you can be the chief, and I can only be the deputy team leader."

"Associate."

Xu Qingyun glared at him, then smiled and said, "Put away your little thoughts, your flattery is useless to me."

Yan Ming really didn't know if the Japanese spies had other observers, or if any observer who had been activated had escaped?
Not necessarily. With his intelligence, he might have guessed it before.

He said this on purpose to flatter someone in an invisible way and make himself happy. Xu Qingyun saw through his thoughts.

"Section Chief, I'm really not flattering you, you are really amazing."

Yan Ming stretched out his finger. Everyone wants to hear good words, and Xu Qingyun is no exception.

He said it was useless, but the smile on his face became even bigger, proving that Yan Ming's words still made him happy.

"Okay, tell me about his situation and your plans."

Xu Qingyun didn't let Yan Ming continue praising him, otherwise it was unknown how long he would continue praising him.

Xu Qingyun did understand Yan Ming. This guy was the smartest and knew how to talk in a way that made people like him. With his intelligence, it was impossible for him to be so foolish as to conclude that there were only three Japanese spies observers. He said this deliberately just to let Xu Qingyun point it out so that he could flatter him.

"The Japanese probably don't know about his exposure yet. I want to cooperate with the man captured by Team 2 to confuse the Japanese together."

Yan Ming told them his plan. Now the Japanese were not aware that the two men had been exposed, and they were observers and did not know the situation of the hidden agents. Unless the Japanese spies recalled them or tested them, they would have to send someone to identify them.

None of these possibilities is likely.

Therefore, if they were kept, it would be very likely that the Japanese would continue to obtain their false information and be led by the nose.

"Okay, keep it for now. Next, your four groups will focus on investigating the Military Merit Department and find out the abnormal people inside."

"Military Merit Department?"

Yan Ming was slightly startled, and he immediately understood that the section chief had ordered the two men to lie dormant through the Japanese, suspecting that there was an insider in the Military Merit Department.

"That's right. Especially those who know about our military achievements will be investigated in detail."

Xu Qingyun did not say what to investigate. Group 4 had been trained well, especially Yan Ming. If he did not know how to investigate and dared to ask, Xu Qingyun would kick him back to Tianjin immediately.

"Yes, I understand. I will report to Team Leader Fang right away."

The section chief said that he wanted four groups of them to handle this case, not just him alone.

He must go back and report to Fang Laibao.

Although he and Fang Laibao are both Xu Qingyun's confidants, Fang Laibao is after all the nominal leader of Intelligence Group 4. If he doesn't tell them, Fang Laibao might have some ideas and even affect the unity of their four groups.

If there is no internal unity, the combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

"Go."

After sending Yan Ming away, Xu Qingyun stood up.

He was accompanied by a bodyguard. Zheng Jiming had left, but he was worried about Xu Qingyun's safety, so he specially arranged for a very skilled person to continue to follow Xu Qingyun.

He was not Zheng Jiming, and he dared not disobey Xu Qingyun's orders.

"Let's go out for a walk."

Xu Qingyun told Leng Wenxuan that his bodyguard’s name was nice and sounded like a scholar.

It's a pity that he was not good at studying, but he was good at martial arts. He not only went to Shaolin Temple, but also learned martial arts in many places.

Leng Wenxuan was originally from the Operations Department. When someone tried to assassinate Xu Qingyun, he was ordered to protect him.

Zheng Jiming heard that he was good at martial arts and was not convinced, so he challenged him to a competition.

As a result, he was subdued by Leng Wenxuan in just three moves.

Next came the shooting competition, in which Zheng Jiming was the best shooter.

When shooting at fixed targets, Zheng Jiming won slightly, but when shooting at moving targets, he lost to Leng Wenxuan.

They are things that are thrown away.

There were ten in total, but Zheng Jiming only hit six, while Leng Wenxuan hit all ten.

It can be said that Zheng Jiming was completely defeated.

Since then, Zheng Jiming has been submissive. After this promotion, he took the initiative to find Xu Zhanjie, hoping that Xu Zhanjie could ask Leng Wenxuan to come over from the Operations Department to specifically protect their team leader.

The Japanese rescinded the bounty, but they still wanted to assassinate the team leader.

At that time, he expressed his worry that if the team leader made further contributions in the future, the new head of the Special High Section might try to assassinate him.

The Japanese are so despicable. If they can't do it openly, they will do it secretly.

If the goal is not achieved, the end justifies the means.

Xu Zhanjie thought what he said made sense, and Xu Zhanjie had also heard about their competition, so he went to find He Ming in person.

Unexpectedly, He Ming firmly disagreed.

Leng Wenxuan is also a treasure of his operations department. There are not many people with such excellent skills in the operations department.

Xu Zhanjie said all the nice things he could, but He Ming just wouldn't agree.

There was no other choice, Xu Zhanjie simply went to find the director and explained the importance of Xu Qingyun, but the director did not agree directly at that time.

After this meritorious service, Xu Zhanjie came looking for Xu Qingyun again. The Japanese suffered such heavy losses that they must hate Xu Qingyun to the core and may target him again in the future. It is necessary to pay attention to Xu Qingyun's safety.

Leng Wenxuan is a skilled fighter, and having him by Xu Qingyun's side can greatly ensure Xu Qingyun's safety.

This time the merit was so great that the old man was very happy. Finally, the director agreed and personally persuaded He Ming, so that Xu Zhanjie finally took the person away from him.

Leng Wenxuan is now in the Intelligence Department, with affiliation with Group 4, but he has always been following Xu Qingyun.

He is Xu Qingyun's full-time bodyguard.

"Chief, where are we going?"

After going out, Leng Wenxuan took the initiative to ask. When he first came to Intelligence Group 4, he was not happy.

He was doing a good job in the Operations Department. Besides, he had a low level of education and was not cut out to be an intelligence officer. It was a sheer waste for him to come to the Intelligence Department.

As a result, after arriving there, Yan Ming, Zheng Jiming and others would tell him about Xu Qingyun's past whenever they had time.

Tianjin, and when I first came to Nanjing.

Leng Wenxuan was in the Operations Department and knew something, but not in detail. After listening to them, he realized that the Section Chief Xu he followed was so capable, no wonder he was promoted so quickly, and his promotion was not based on connections.

But it is real military achievement.

Six thousand words, updated tomorrow.


(End of this chapter)